Report from the Village: Column debuts

By Jim Bartoe, Buckeye Lake Council Member

We have received numerous requests and or complaints about the village not getting information out to the residents. To comply with those requests, we are starting a bimonthly column whereas we can inform the residents of things that have happened or are going to happen.

First, we would like to thank Charlie Prince and The Beacon for agreeing to publish this article twice per month for us. The intention of this column is to better inform our residents of happenings in the village. It is not intended to get into any type of politics or verbal warfare. If that starts to happen we will discontinue the article. If anyone has questions as to why something did or did not get in the article or the validity of the facts, please call me at 928-0393. Please do not write rebuttals in the paper until you have received the answers from me. This is what leads to the verbal warfare and we will not be a party to that and it will just lead to the discontinuation of the column.

That said, I would like to report some happenings in the village. I am sure that everyone has already heard that the council has filled the vacant seat of John Cortez. The criteria used to select a candidate was basically twofold. Experience and a desire to be on the council was the main issues used to determine the selections. Charlene Hayden was chosen to fillCortez's seat due to her vast experience on the council and the tremendous amount of information that she possesses of all the projects that the village is involved in at the present time. Donna Thompson was chosen to fillthe seat left by Hayden due to her prior concern about the village and the fact that she had already taken out a petition to run for election in November. This showed a willingness and desire to get involved in the village government and to serve the community. She attends every council meeting and usually has suggestions or questions during the "citizens comments" portion of the agenda. She will finish out Hayden's term which ends in January 2008 and will serve another four year term if elected at that time.

The council is discussing a pay raise for our police department since it has been seven years since their last raise. However, the raise will not come without a price. The mayor is meeting with the department to go over some issues that must be addressed. Being considered are projects that will be of value to parents and kids. Also, officer training and funds available will be addressed.

The water project is being pursued more vigilantly in that we may be discussing buying water from Millersport or Hebron. I am sure that the monthly costs to the residents will play a big part in whichever project is selected. We have already met once with Hebron and we are scheduled to have a Public Service meeting on Sept. 18, to discuss purchasing bulk water from Millersport. We will have more information at a later time when and if formal discussions with Millersport take place.

Our firedepartment just tested all fire hoses and found four to be bad. We also have to have to have the cable from the radio replaced due to a great reduction in power output. This work was scheduled to be done Sept. 15.